Stay on target

For whatever else we say about Silicon Valley, venture, and *shudder* “maker” culture, it should come as no surprise that these folks are going down a really weird path.

The spirit of hacking, often considered an essential part of the Geek culture of tinkering and modifying whatever you can, may have crossed a line with its latest obsession: DIY gene hacking.

In much the same way (and for the same reasons) that troves of youngins took to hacking computers and electronics back in the 80s, some are now using CRISPR and other tools to modify their own genetic code. And that should fire off every conceivable red flag your brain can trigger.

It’s already earned the ire of the FDA, who have begun to look at the cottage industry with some serious side eye in recent months, but regulations are still pretty scant.The first of these experiments was conducted just last month, and was live-streamed on Facebook, according to Gizmodo.

There’s a strong argument to be made that when one makes what appears to be an individual choice like this, they are putting themselves and others at serious risk. We can’t just slough off responsibility and pretend that our actions only affect ourselves — after all, if that was the case why not just masturbate while driving? Or attempt to inoculate yourself to anthrax and then attempt to infect yourself?

“FDA is aware that gene therapy products intended for self-administration and ‘do it yourself’ kits to produce gene therapies for self-administration are being made available to the public. The sale of these products is against the law,” the FDA wrote in a statement. “FDA is concerned about the safety risks involved… consumers are cautioned to make sure that any gene therapy they are considering has either been approved by FDA or is being studied under appropriate regulatory oversight.”

Part of me definitely gets it. I’m still trying to get some magnets and computer chips implanted in my body for all kinds of fun home automation and cyberpunk-y shenanigans. But the reality, unfortunately, is that this is a little beyond the pale. If for no other reason than it’s possible that we could be introducing severe genetic maladies into the gene pool. Should one of these gene hacks succeed — depending upon which cells were targeted and modified — we could very well see a modification of sperm or eggs that could crop up in the next generation should these folks choose to have children.

Even more troubling, as Gizmodo reports, some of these folks are supplied by biomedical research companies who may be attempting to circumvent standard regulations. Ascendance Biomedical, the company who gave Roberts the HIV “vaccine” he used on himself can bypass the standard mechanisms of approval and safety certification by encouraging self-experimentation, which, while not illegal, is (no shit) insanely dangerous.

Some are even considering self-applying CRISPR, which the agency considers gene therapy — which is tightly regulated — and may not fall under the same self-experimentation rules. It’s true that shooting from the hip with genetic material, particularly our more powerful tools, like CRISPR, probably won’t create any Frankenstein’s monsters, but goddamn people, can you just not for a little bit?